Our second full week in Sicily and we veer from loving it to hating it, so very Marmite.
Negatives:
- The roads are simply the worst we have come across including many in Africa! Potholes like craters on the motorways.
- On top of that, their driving is beyond stupid, we have been unfortunate enough to come across three accidents during the week plus at least 10 near misses. That said we have managed to drive right through the centre of a town with our wing mirrors clipping signs as we went, and we couldn’t blame the satnav.
- There seems to be a game played in that: if they can be charge a little more, then what they do, this is extremely frustrating, surely a Euro extra on a coffee bill is not going to gain you that much.
- Lastly the corruption that seems to be evident everywhere, in buildings and roads falling apart as soon as they are built.
- Rubbish is dumped everywhere as it seems not to be collected. Every layby on the roads are piled high with bagged rubbish and the beaches are covered with litter.
Positives:
- We have met so many lovely people who go the extra mile to make us welcome, the crew at Marina de Ragusa were so kind and helpful a great place to park.
- The UNESCO world heritage sites are stunning we have visited 6 out of the 8 on the island.
- The Baroque towns are lovely, Modica has the best chocolate in Sicily and the staff in the shop just kept giving us different types to taste.
- Siracuse is a lovely city perhaps one of the loveliest we have seen.
- The food has been good and the ice cream awesome.
- To top it off out breakfast orange juice has now gone red and so tasty. The sun has been with us and enhanced the beauty of the island.
So overall Sicily has a lot to offer and some of the motorhome stops brilliant, it is very expensive for most things and Italian diesel is the most expensive for all you mothomers out there at an average of €1.36 per litre so far on the journey.
Should you visit? Yes but be prepared to be underwhelmed at times.
Safe travels to you all.
Jax says
Its a very sad fact that the Italians are devils behind a steering wheel. We could write a book! But also, recycling is not in their DNA. As for the beaches, we find that they tend to do a clear up when they’re preparing for their season and not before. If you were to return in July, you would be greeted with a different Sardinia altogether… only worse from a driving point of view of course!
Lesley Parr says
You are bringing back some funny memories for us particularly the driving. We actually questioned whether there is such a thing as a driving test in Italy. There are basically no rules, no sense and a serious amount of horn blowing. We got totally jammed thanks to Italian parking on corners on both sides of the road and we held up all the Bank Holiday traffic. To a chorus of horns eventually 5 or 6 young men jumped out of their cars and opened the doors of the offending vehicle and shoved it up a bank out of the way. Good luck but don’t expect better on the mainland until you get down south then it’s like a different world x
Michelle says
This is an accurate review. We much preferred sciliy to Italy. The table tax did take some getting used to and it’s such a shame about the rubbish. In comparison we found the scilians really friendly to those in Italy who were really rude. Yes very corrupt still. It certainly was a shock to us. Siracruise was beautiful as you say. Food amazing. You just need to see past the worst bits. If you service the driving good luck